TOP NEWS
Tanzania revokes retention license for Barrick, Glencore nickel JV
Tanzania revoked a retention license for Barrick Gold Corp. and Glencore PLC's undeveloped Kabanga nickel joint venture in the country as part of a new mining regime, Reuters reported. The Kabanga license, which was originally set to expire in May 2019, was one of the 11 canceled by the government under 2018 mining regulations.
Glencore, Gertler working to reach settlement over DRC royalties dispute
Glencore is working with Israeli businessman Dan Gertler to reach an out of court settlement associated with a royalties dispute in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bloomberg News reported, citing two sources. A scheduled hearing in a London court on May 11 was postponed as both sides worked to come to an amicable solution. Gertler is seeking US$2.28 billion in damages and unpaid royalties from Glencore, which the company ceased to pay after he was sanctioned by the U.S.
Louis Dreyfus closes US$466M sale of metals unit to Chinese fund
Louis Dreyfus Co. sold its metals business to Chinese investment fund NCCL Natural Resources Investment Fund for US$466 million, as part of a a drive to revive profits by focusing on its core agricultural markets, Reuters reported.
DIVERSIFIED
* BHP Billiton Group CEO Andrew Mackenzie said the Australian government should create incentives for corporations to invest in infrastructure and spend taxpayers' dollars on health and education, The Australian Financial Review reported. The comments came after the government allocated A$24.5 billion to infrastructure in the budget.
* BHP Billiton has sold over a A$100 million exposure in Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group to an unidentified buyer, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk wrote.
BASE METALS
* Dissident shareholders shook up Zenyatta Ventures Ltd.'s board of directors after voting at a special meeting of shareholders. The move was flagged in mid-February. The shareholders and Zenyatta said that four members of its board of directors were removed and replaced with other nominees.
* OZ Minerals Ltd. increased its stake in Avanco Resources Ltd. to 37.21% from about 35.57% recently under its A$418 million takeover offer, which was approved by the latter's board in early May. Avanco's largest shareholder, Appian Natural Resources, with about 18.44% ownership, and BlackRock, with about 11.60% interest, have now accepted the offer, which is expected to close June 1.
* NuevaUnion, a US$3.5 billion Chilean joint venture between Goldcorp Inc. and Teck Resources Ltd., is set to deliver an environmental impact statement by the end of 2018 after completing feasibility studies, Reuters reported, citing a source at the mine. The copper-gold project is anticipated to start operations by 2022-2023.
* Norm Seckold's Nickel Mines is eyeing an IPO on the ASX, which could raise around A$125 million and would value the company at around A$400 million, The Australian wrote. A final decision on the proposed IPO is yet to be made.
* Independence Group NL has taken just under a 5% stake in minerals explorer Galileo Mining Ltd.'s IPO, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk wrote.
* A trial over the legality of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's sale of a stake in PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co. is set to begin May 14 in London, Reuters reported. United Co. Rusal PLC is seeking to block Abramovich from selling the interest to Vladimir Potanin, arguing that it violates a 2012 shareholder agreement.
* KGHM Polska Miedz SA agreed to supply Tele-Fonika Kable about 300,000 tonnes of copper rod for five years, with the value of the contract estimated at between 7.5 billion Polish zloty and 8.1 billion zloty, Puls Biznesu reported.
* Symbol Mining Ltd. decided to proceed with the activities required to start mining the Macy deposit of its 60%-owned Imperial zinc property in Nigeria after a scoping study on the deposit indicated the deposit's potential for a high-grade, low-CapEx zinc and lead mining operation. On a pretax basis, Macy is expected to generate about A$20.3 million in free cash flow over its mine life, with a pre-production CapEx of about US$3.2 million and a total capital funding requirement of about A$5 million.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Efforts to replace gold ore reserves through mergers and acquisitions gained traction in 2017 as companies purchased more primary gold assets than the year before. With the major producers heavily represented among both the buyers and the sellers of mines and projects, the upswing is mainly a continuation of the portfolio rationalization of the previous four years of industry retrenchment. However, with the majors facing dwindling gold reserves, the increase in purchases by producers may also herald a return to reserves replacement through acquisitions, although likely not to historical levels of investment as spending restraint appears to have become embedded in corporate strategy.
* Centamin Plc's 50%-owned Sukari mine in Egypt is targeting production of about 560,000 ounces of gold this year, up from 550,000 ounces it produced in 2017, Egypt Today reported.
* The British Columbia government and the Nisga'a First Nation signed a deal ensuring that the latter receives a share of the mineral tax revenue collected from Pretium Resources Inc.'s Brucejack gold mine, Mining.com reported. The agreement has the potential to generate over C$8 million annually for the First Nation, according to the government.
* Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. is seeking tenders to build a tailings or waste storage facility at its Marula platinum mine in Limpopo, South Africa, Reuters reported, citing a newspaper ad from the company. According to the ad, bidders are required to use 100% unskilled local labor and must maximize the use of local subcontractors.
* Artemis Resources Ltd. will sell its 4 million Novo Resources Corp. shares to Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. for about A$20.7 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month.
* Hill End Gold Ltd. appointed PCF Capital Group Pty. Ltd. to conduct a strategic review of the company's Hill End and Hargraves gold projects in New South Wales, Australia, in a bid to unlock their value. The process will be completed by mid-June.
* Latitude Consolidated Ltd. completed the sale of its Mt Ida-Quinns Mount Ida gold project tenements to Alt Resources Ltd.
* South Africa's Solidarity trade union, which represents 2% of the unionized workforce in the country, is demanding a wage hike of 10% annually for the gold sector over the next three years, Reuters reported, citing a document submitted to the Chamber of Mines.
BULK COMMODITIES
* The London Metal Exchange turned down Glencore and United Co. Rusal PLC's request to temporarily lift the restriction on Rusal's aluminum as the U.S. recently extended a deadline for companies to wind down contracts with the Russian company, Reuters reported.
* Rusal warned that the recently imposed U.S. sanctions have made earlier forecasts about the company unreliable, the Financial Times wrote. "In present circumstances any forecast or outlook made or previously made should be deemed unreliable and may become irrelevant due to ongoing developments on the market at this period of time", the Russian aluminum producer said.
* ArcelorMittal's first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders spiked 19.0% year over year to US$1.19 billion. Sales also increased 19.3% to US$19.19 billion, attributed to higher average steel selling prices, steel shipments and higher market-priced iron ore shipments, but lower reference prices for seaborne iron ore partially offset the gains.
* Banpu PCL swung to a net loss of US$40.0 million in the first quarter from a year-ago net profit of US$40.9 million. The Thai company's profit was affected by a court ordered one-off payment of US$86 million in connection with the Hongsa coal-fired power plant in Laos, as well as a foreign exchange loss of US$33 million due to strong appreciation of the Thai baht against the U.S. dollar.
* Adani Enterprises Ltd. unit Adani Mining Pty. Ltd. took an impairment charge of 896.4 million Indian rupees, or about US$13.3 million, on the 40185 Carmichael coal project in Queensland, Australia, as the project's development continues to be hampered by delays and legal challenges, Bloomberg News reported. The impairment was booked in the quarter ended March 31.
* Votorantim SA swung to a net income of 150 million Brazilian reais from a year-ago net loss of 546 million reais, partially due to higher metal prices, Reuters reported.
* TMK IPSCO, a U.S.-based unit of Russian pipemaker TMK, is seeking exemption from the U.S. tariffs for some of its products, Reuters reported. The unit is one of the largest domestic producers and suppliers of seamless and welded steel pipe for the oil and gas industry, and sources some of the materials from its Russian affiliates.
* The government of China's Jiangsu province, one of the country's biggest steel-producing regions, is considering closing small coke plants in certain areas as part of anti-pollution measures, Reuters reported, citing an official from the provincial government. The move is seen leading to higher costs for local steel mills, which will have to source coke elsewhere.
* Certain North Korean traders are offering cheap coal to Chinese buyers who are storing it at ports in North Korea amid hopes that sanctions related to purchases of North Korean coal will be eased, three Chinese traders told Reuters. The report noted that coal sale offers surged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's surprise visit to Beijing in March ahead of an expected meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
* India's thermal coal imports surged over 15% in the first quarter to 39.6 million tonnes, Reuters wrote, citing data from Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based coal trader American Fuels & Natural Resources.
* Altech Chemicals Ltd. received an indicative mezzanine debt term sheet for up to US$120 million from an international investment bank for its proposed Johor Bahru high-purity alumina plant in Malaysia and associated kaolin mine in Meckering, Western Australia.
* The Western Australian government is trying to broker a sale for Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.'s Koolyanobbing iron ore mine in Western Australia, which is expected to shutter operations by the end of June, The West Australian reported.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Miners are relieved not to have been "singled out" in the Western Australian government budget announced May 10 as they were in 2017, but they are not happy about being asked to pay for the continuation of services and grants they consider core to doing business, Association of Mining & Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce said. The state introduced what Pearce said amounts to about A$65 million of increased fees, charges and levies across the broader mining industry.
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